Wi-Fi is a medium range radio telecommunication technique based on the IEEE 802.11™ wireless local area network standards. The effective range of Wi-Fi is usually tens to hundreds of meters. A typical use of Wi-Fi is to provide a personal computer with a wireless connection to an access point serving as a gateway to a network, such as the Internet. The access point sends out frames of data. Some of these frames are broadcasts containing information for all potential and actual users of the access point. Wi-Fi can operate in the 2.4 GHz ISM band, where normally these broadcasts are transmitted using the lowest of the data rates that are specified in the standards, by means of direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) signals. Several varieties of Wi-Fi exist. See, for example, the different variants described in the IEEE 802.11b™ and IEEE 802.11g™ standards, more recently incorporated in the IEEE 802.11-2007 standard.
Bluetooth is a relatively short range radio telecommunication technique (the effective range is usually less than 10 meters). Bluetooth is usually used to provide a wireless link between a personal computer and a peripheral device such as a keyboard, a mouse or a radio telephone handset (i.e., a “mobile phone” or a “cell phone”). Another common use of Bluetooth is to connect a cell phone to an audio headset. Bluetooth signals are transmitted in the 2.4 GHz ISM band.